SOIL BEARING CAPACITY OF SHALLOW FOUNDATION EXAMPLES:

EXAMPLES:
1. A continuous foundation is shown. Using Terzaghi’s bearing capacity factors, determine the gross
allowable load per unit area (qall) that the foundation can carry. Given: unit weight of soil = 110 lb/ft 3 ,
 Df = 3 ft , c’ = 200 lb/ft 2 , B = 4 ft , angle of internal friction is 20 degrees and Factor of safety = 3.
Assume general shear failure.

SOLUTION:
From the table 16.1, for angle of internal friction = 20 degrees,

Also, solving for q,

For continuous footing,

Solving for qu, we have:

Therefore, solving for qall,

2. A square foundation is shown. The footing will carry a gross mass of 30,000 kg. Using a factor of safety
of 3, determine the size of the footing—that is, the size of B.

Solution:
Since the density is given, we get the unit weight by multiplying the density by the gravitational
acceleration, by doing that we get,

Getting the total gross load to be supported by the footing, we have;

With the factor of safety of 3, we have

Also,
From the table 16.1, for angle of internal friction of 35 degrees, we have;

Substituting the values, we have,